By the time the turtles were done preparing the sun had set, letting night take over once again.
At least they were well rested and fed, they were ready to take on whatever was going to be thrown at them.
In front of the door that would lead them out to the main part of the mall they paused, glancing at each other.
The plan was to hit the household store to gather an iron pan for Raph to use as trauma weapon and Leo would look for a bigger kitchen knife. It would do more damage than a pair of crutches. As soon as they'd step out of the mall, they'd stop for nothing... aside from the wolf. They probably wouldn't be able to outrun it.
Still wary of their surroundings, the turtles left their drugstore, keeping close to the row of windows and glass doors of the adjoining shops as they made their way towards the main entrance.
It was eerily quiet, aside from the rustling of the jacket Mikey wore and the occasional sniff. He had assured his brothers that he was well enough to walk on his own for now. At least until they left the relative safety of the mall and had to hurry to avoid getting distracted by any... inconvenience.
Raph, who brought up the rear, felt an unpleasant tingling in his spine. Were they being watched? With sharp eyes he checked their surroundings. He almost expected The Shadow to lurk in one of the dark corners. However, there was nothing. No shape hovering somewhere either. Nothing out of ordinary. Shaking his head and scolding himself inwardly for his paranoia he sped up to keep closer to his siblings.
Leo couldn't help but notice the way towards the household store seemed to stretch farther than the night before. He clenched his teeth, but kept a neutral appearance to not alert his brothers. They all were already on edge. It was so similar to the orphanage with the stretching hallway... but here were no ghosts. They would've shown already. The previous night nothing had been there, and Leo was at least partly sure that wouldn't change overnight. Though... in this town everything was possible.
Donatello had a tight grip on his younger brother's hand as they followed Leo towards their goal. He also noticed the extended distance and expected an ambush every second. Every muscle in his body was tense with suppressed fear. He was sick of the darkness. The pale moonlight did nothing to assure him. In fact, it made him want to turn around and hide. Nothing has attacked them yet. He should really get his shit together, he knew.
Michelangelo had a bad feeling immediately after stepping out of the drugstore. He's been unconscious when they arrived the night before, so he didn't think about the durance of their walk. Something felt very off. His intuition was pretty reliable, even when he was sick, so when he felt the urge to look to the left he pressed his eyes closely together, letting Donnie's hand guide him blindly. He didn't want to see whatever his subconscious wanted him to see. Mikey had enough scares to last for months worth of nightmares. And since his brothers didn't react at all, maybe he's been imagining it.
When they reached the household store Leo let out a soundless breath of relief. Raph made short work of picking the lock again, while Don kept warily checking their surroundings.
"Everything okay?" the leader asked, resting a hand on Mikey's shoulder.
Reluctantly the youngest turtle opened his eyes to meet Leo's concerned gaze. "Are you feeling worse?" Leo inquired, moving his hand to the freckled cheek.
"N-No. It's fine... This place just gives me the creeps." He offered a tiny smile, relaxing a little when Don's hand gave his a reassuring squeeze and Leo pressed his lips to his forehead.
"Yeah... We'll leave as soon as possible." With that Leo took a deep breath and entered the store after Raph pushed the doors open.
Mikey didn't really know if he should feel relieved that he wasn't the only one scared or worried that even his fearless brother felt uneasy.
He tugged on Don's hand, pulling him over the threshold of the shop. If something happened he wanted to be in the same room as his brothers.
Donnie gave a shaky smile at that and pulled his little brother closer in a hug while their mates searched for their make-shift weapons. When this was over they just had to take a vacation at Casey's farmhouse.
It didn't take Leo and Raph long to find the desired objects. Together with their brothers they stepped out of the shop again.
Leonardo hesitated as he looked around. Something was different. Though... he couldn't tell what. The other shop doors were still closed, everything looked just the same.
Slower than necessary, as he was still checking out the mall's interior, he moved towards the high main entrance.
Mikey felt his heart pound faster and harder. Something was off. Very very off. Stubbornly he focused on Donnie's shell in front of him, refusing to see something he didn't want to. He cursed himself when he gave into his intuition, turning his head to the left side, eyes immediately catching on something at the stores on the other side.
His breath hitched, the tiny sound enough to stop their high-strung brothers in their tracks.
"What is it?" Raph whispered, not daring to focus on Mikey. He kept his eyes on their background, muscles tense as he waited for something to jump them.
"S-Shouldn't..." Mikey tried hard to keep the sudden shaking under control, letting out a single cough before swallowing painfully. "Shouldn't those m-mannequins be b-behind the... t-the windows?"
Realization struck Leo at the words. Of course. Yesterday the mannequins were inside the stores. He hadn't paid them any attention then. How could he not notice them standing in front of the shops now?
Don's breath hitched like Mikey's had at the sight of those faceless plastic models rowed neatly along the opposite wall. Unmoving.
Raph and Leo stepped closer to their younger brothers, weapons at the ready. The mannequins didn't move an inch.
"M-Maybe the ghost people put them out during the day?" Donatello offered, not even slightly convinced of his own theory.
"Maybe. Yes." Don had to hand it to Leo. He managed to not sound the slightest bit scared, while the genius was sure he'd almost pissed himself at the scare it gave him. Mikey was in no better condition, pressing close to Donnie as if he could crawl into his shell with him.
"Let's get the shell outta here." Raph's voice didn't waver, but the sweat on his forehead told his brothers of his nervousness.
"Try to keep an eye on them..." Leo told Donnie and Mikey, as he had to make sure nothing got in their way and Raph was watching their backs.
The olive turtle gulped hard down his dry throat, but nodded dutifully. As long as they were watched, they wouldn't move... right?
Walking a little faster now, they got closer to the door. It took every ounce of self control in Leonardo's body to not start running when the high main entrance was fully in sight. They were almost there.
-CRASH-
The sound of glass breaking right behind them almost gave each of them a heart attack. From the window of a shoe shop they just passed a hand was sticking out. As if the mannequin punched-
With a start the turtles remembered the other mannequins and Mikey let out a hoarse yelp at how close the plastic puppets had come. One of them was only a few feet away, the blank surface staring directly at them.
Donatello was frozen in shock, his lungs barely working to get air into them, blood rushing in his ears. Raph gasped next to them, but he couldn't pry his gaze away from the puppet, in fear of it moving even closer.
"Shit... those things move whenever we stop watching them..." Raph breathed hard, gripping his pan tight.
Not having to be told, Mikey turned around so he was watching their right side, into the window they were standing in front of. Despite jumping at the sight that greeted him, he was glad he did. Inside the store he could see more mannequins. None of them was standing on their pedestals anymore, but randomly between the stands, facing the window.
With Leo watching the front they had all angles covered as best as they could.
"Okay. Slowly now. Don't make sudden moves and don't look anywhere else, no matter what you hear." Leo coached them, hazel eyes trained ahead, jaw set firmly.
Don and Mikey had their shells pressed tightly together as they walked, each of them touching Raph's and Leo's shells too to make sure all of them stayed together.
Whenever they passed a window and the mannequins were out of Mike's sight, seconds later the glass burst. The puppets froze before they could step out, Raph's amber gaze successfully keeping them immobile.
Donnie was trying to get his rapid heartbeat under control. It was easier now that they were further away from the closest mannequin. He didn't dare close his eyes even for a blink, using his second eyelid to make it possible. From his peripheral vision he thought the heads were turning in their direction, even if the bodies couldn't move.
"R-Raph... please tell me they aren't... watching us." he managed to get out, taking deep breaths to calm himself.
"Can't." The short reply spoke of Raph's fear. He rarely showed it, but his brothers knew him well. The hothead was trying hard to keep it together. He took a deep shaky breath, letting out a huff. "They're just plastic puppets. We could take them."
None of them tried to, though. Ever since the encounter with the ghost children, Raphael was wary to try such an approach again.
"We're almost there. Just keep walking." Hearing Leonardo's voice, calmer now, was like a warm blanket that chased the cold tendrils of fear away. Leo said they were close to freedom. They would make it.
Mikey tried to take shallow but steady breaths. His nose was stuffy again, and when he took deeper breaths it would catch in his raw throat, prompting him to cough. And that couldn't happen. Not right now. Through his open mouth it was easy for his brothers to hear the rasping as he breathed in.
Leo reached behind him with his free hand to find Mikey's and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
"You're doing great, baby. Just a little further." He coached, his only reply a weak squeeze back.
When they passed the last shop Leo ran ahead to open one side of the door so they could slip through immediately. His brothers followed the sound blindly. However, when Mikey saw the last window his breath hitched again at the sight of a faceless mannequin directly behind the glass, stiff hands raised as if to shatter the window.
Michelangelo couldn't do anything as throat constricted, he had to give into the urge to cough in order to just breathe. The glass in front of him burst, and suddenly he was yanked back from it. Through his teary eyes he saw the mannequin crawl through the broken window. He willed his legs to work even though his lungs wouldn't and let himself be dragged to the entrance by Don's cool arms.
Raphael's shell was in front of them then, eyes sweeping over the entirety of the mall and the mannequins that used every millisecond he wasn't watching them to come closer. A plastic hand, covered in rings and bracelets, touched his foot and with a startled growl he smashed his iron pan on the adjoining wrist. As feared it didn't do anything to the plastic.
Clenching his teeth, Raph kicked the arm into the rapidly approaching plastic crowd.
"Raph! Come on!"
Abandoning the puppet army, Raphael turned around and all but jumped through the door, under the boards, immediately helping Leo with pulling it close just as the mannequins reached it. The glass wouldn't withstand their pounding for long, but the wooden boards would hopefully keep them inside.
Ushering their younger brothers to a bench by the dried out fountain, they sat and tried to catch their breaths from that horrifying experience. Donnie was rubbing his baby brother's shell, helping with the coughs.
"What the hell. What. The. HELL." Raph stood and gripped rubbed his eyes with his knuckles. "They didn't do that yesterday!"
"The ghost children didn't attack us first either." Leo said with narrowed eyes as he watched the puppets cease their pounding, vanishing one by one.
A howling sound from the distance reminded them that they had to hurry up.
"Are you two alright?" Leo asked worriedly, squatting down in front of his two youngest mates. Both of them were pale, though he doubted he looked any better after that ordeal. Donnie put his foot up on the bench to pull the bandage tighter again, leaning into Leo's hand as it came to rest on his cheek.
"I'm okay. Let's go find the Shadow Freak so we can finally get out of here." Don was startled when Leo handed him the long kitchen knife. "What...?"
"Take it. You're in no condition to carry Mikey."
"It barely hurts anymore, Leo. I can do it." Donnie protested with a frown.
"I know you could, honey. But I can tell it hurts, you're going to be slower because of it. And Mikey's added weight is gonna slow you down even more." Leo let out a sigh at the unhappy frowns on both of his baby brother's faces and rubbed a hand over his face. Way to insult both of them at once.
"What I meant," he started again, squeezing the sea-green and olive thighs with his hands, "is that it's more logical if I take Mikey. After him I'm the fastest, so with the added weight we'll be at about the same speed."
Leo mulled that over in his head and at Don's raised eye ridge he could tell that sounded not really any better. He tried to open his mouth again, but Don stopped him by putting his hand on his mouth and shaking his head.
"I get it. Shut up before I'm gonna put you into the doghouse." Raph let out a chuckle from behind them, gaze fixated on the surrounding buildings and streets. Leo cleared his throat and nodded before turning around, indicating for Mikey to get on his shell.
The orange-banded ninja had to admit, he was glad he didn't have to run on his own. The adrenaline has kept him on his feet inside the mall, but now that they all calmed down he felt it crashing, his muscles and head hurting again. He buried his face in Leo's shoulder, intending to just rest for a few seconds, but found it hard to lift his head again.
The next howl sounded closer, urging the brothers to move.
"This way. Maybe we can reach the hospital before it gets us." Leo said, starting into the right direction.
They didn't know what would await them at the hospital, or how they would fight and defeat The Shadow, but he was sure they'd need all their strength for it. So fighting a vicious wolf was better avoided.
Used to it, they opted for taking the rooftops. So close to the center of the town they stood close enough together to make jumping them easy. In addition, they could avoid any threats on the ground. After that scene in the mall Leo wouldn't put it past their faceless enemy to leave some more surprises for them.
The sign of a psychic shop down below across the street began glowing.
"Ignore it." Was all Leo said, keeping a tight grip on Mikey's legs as they ran past the sign.
Up ahead they could already see the hospital, a large green cross glowing too, but flickering. Hazel eyes narrowed at the sight. No matter if it was a trap, they had to go there.
Some more minor signs left and right from them turned on as they passed, though they wouldn't stop for anything. Leonardo grit his teeth at the close sound of howling. Mikey's grip on his shoulders tightened.
"It's about thirty feet behind us on the ground." Donnie stated, a determined expression on his face as they ran. He had to keep it together.
"Think we can outrun it?" Raph asked, grip on the handle of the pan already tightening.
Donnie calculated the distance between them and the hospital and bit his lip.
"If we could jump from the last roof through the first floor's window I'd say yes. It can't climb, or else it would be already up here."
"It's too far away, we won't make it." Leo hissed, coming to a stop at the ledge of the last house. Maybe without Mike's added weight, but as it was they wouldn't reach the window.
Below them the wolf growled, eyes glowing dangerously. It started pacing at the ground between them and the hospital, stare never wavering.
"We gotta kill it." Raph concluded, grinding his teeth.
"If we can kill it..." Raphael's aggressive stance eased up a little at those words. "If it's not like the ghost children."
"We gotta try. And if it doesn't work, I'll at least distract it long enough so you can get Mikey to the hospital."
Before Leo could protest that horribly stupid idea, Raph and Donnie jumped down together. Immediately the wolf attacked them. Thanks to their training they dodged rather easily. Donatello tried slashing it with the knife, but the steel went right through it.
"Ghost wolf." He hissed loud enough for Raph to hear, jumping out of the way when the wolf tried to bite him.
"Fearless, we're gonna keep him busy, move your ass!" Raphael shouted without looking away from the canine. He and Donnie kept dodging the attacks.
The wolf's ears perked up at the soft almost inaudible sound of Leo's feet hitting the dirt.
"Yo, we're here, ya ugly muzzle!" Hoping to draw the wolf's attention back to him, Raph swung his pan to swish through its body.
Chocolate and amber eyes widened in surprise when the iron collided with the side of the long snout, crushing a few of the sharp teeth and cracking the jaw.
The wolf yowled and snarled, turning to attack the turtles again while Leo watched from the outer wall of the hospital. He desperately wanted to help them. But Mikey's convulsing body as he coughed again reminded him he had to stay. His heart jumped when the pan collided with the wolf's head.
Not one to pass up a chance like this, Raphael grinned with new confidence and swung the pan again. The wolf rolled to the side, jumping to attack a second later. Donatello began shouting at it, successfully distracting it.
The spiritual being didn't know who to focus on. His destined instincts were to get the two turtles away from the hospital. But the one with the pan could hurt him. And the other one kept shouting, putting off his fine hearing.
Seizing the opportunity Raph shot forward, silent for once while Don distracted the wolf with his voice. All the fear and frustration, all the rage he's been feeling since arriving in this hellhole, Raph poured everything in his blow as it hit the head of the wolf full force.
There was a sickening crunch before the canine collapsed where it stood, eyes wide and dulled with the sudden dead. It stayed for barely two seconds before it dissolved into white sand, blown away by a sudden wind that made the turtles shudder.
Not waiting for another attacker, Don and Raph ran over to Leo and Mikey.
"Damn that felt good." Raph breathed out, grinning at the feeling of most of the tension leaving his neck and shoulders.
"I don't get it, how could you hurt it?" Don shook his head, catching his breath.
"The pan... it's iron. Iron hurts ghosts." Mikey breathed, remembering all the horror movies he liked to watch back then, when it only was a movie.
"Good to know. They're gonna be in for a good Raphael-pounding." Mikey chuckled at the double-meaning, intending to make a joke, but ended up coughing into Leo's shoulder.
"Let's get inside before we find out if the wolf had friends." Leonardo muttered, warily looking around.
Despite feeling it was a bad idea, the turtles made their way to the main entrance. It was easier than breaking into a window and climbing in, after all.
The door swung open easily. Just like the night they found Donatello here, it was dark, despite the emergency lights. Tentatively they stepped into the main hallway, only jumping slightly when the door snapped shut behind them.
"I got a feeling this is a bad idea." Don stated, more to himself than to anyone particular. He moved up front, having memorized the layout from the sketches in the book.
Don led them to the staircase, sighing as he looked down. The first time he went down there, he hallucinated the gruesome deaths of his brothers.
Raph's hand on his shoulder gave a reassuring squeeze before the larger turtle moved forward, about to step down.
"N-No..." They stopped, looking quizzically at their baby brother. His freckled face was sweaty, and he wore a deeply concentrated expression.
"What is it, Mikey?" Leo asked, turning his head slightly.
"We have to go upstairs."
"The plan was to get into the sewers, sweetheart. We have to go downstairs." Donnie frowned at the glassier blue eyes and Mike's expression. He rested a hand on his baby brother's forehead, but Mikey barely registered the touch.
"His temperature's rising again..." The genius mumbled, concern evident in his eyes.
"Don't you feel it?" Mikey whispered, looking at his brothers as if they were crazy.
"I only feel your body burning like a furnace, baby. Why don't you try to rest a little?" Leo tried to coax Mikey into letting it go, thinking he was delusional. However, the sea-green turtle shook his head frantically.
"No, there's a... a pull. From upstairs. We have to go there first."
The older turtles exchanged looks. It could just be fever-talk. But they followed Mikey's hunch to the hospital already. What harm could it be to follow this one too?
"Alright, Mikey. We'll go upstairs." Leo spoke to Mikey, taking the lead with Don and Raph slightly behind him on either side. "You have to tell me where to go, okay?" The leader wasn't quite convinced Mikey was completely there, so he thought it was better to keep talking to him to keep him grounded.
They reached the second floor when Mikey's voice broke the silence.
"There. The... the last room on the right."
The hallway that lay in front of them didn't look inviting at all. The emergency light was flickering and humming like in some bad horror movie. Like in the rest of the hospital, papers were strewn around, only that most of them were sprinkled with red paint... or blood. At the end of the hallway was a window that let the moonlight in. The branches of a bare tree were tapping against the glass.
"This is getting ridiculous..." Raph muttered, taking in the scene.
"Are you sure this is the way, Mikey?" The freckled turtle nodded, hands tightening on Leo's shoulders again before he pointed at a wall where bloody smears left a trail.
"There's the picture of the lighthouse..." he mumbled, feeling sick all of a sudden. "I... something bad happened..."
Usually Raphael would've made a sarcastic comment about that, like wasn't that obvious with all the blood around? But he kept his mouth shut. When they were finally out of this shithole he'd hold his tongue for at least a month, he swore to himself.
"Do you really wanna go there?" Leo asked, shifting when he felt Mikey wiggle around. "What are you doing?"
"Let me down..." The youngster demanded, swaying a little when standing on his own two feet again. Raph steadied him with a strong arm around his shoulders, resting the pan on his opposite shoulder.
"We have to." Mikey finally answered Leo's question and shook Raph's arm off. Like in trance he took the first steps into the hallway.
He dragged his feet, stumbling and slipping on the papers.
Deep breath in. Deep breath out. The air grew thick and hot.
The hallway tilted from a dizzy spell. Helplessly he reached out to support himself against the wall.
Deep breath in. And out. The outlines of the hallway were fading in and out of focus, the only thing standing out the smears of blood on the wall.
A groan as his knees hit the ground, followed by his hands. Arms straining under his own weight.
Two three-fingered hand prints were barely visible under a few pieces of paper.
A scream from his hoarse throat as he was yanked back by rough hands on his ankles.
The trail of blood ended by the door.
Donnie watched worriedly, trepidation knotting his stomach as he followed his brightly banded brothers. Leo grabbed his hand and gave it a small squeeze, face in a frown.
"Something's not right..." Donatello sighed, cursing himself when he felt fear gripping him again. He thought he had it under control now, but something about this hallway...
Before Leo could give him an answer, Mikey and Raph reached the last door. The sea-green hand was hovering over the handle, shaking from both exhaustion and fear.
Raphael stood as close as possible to his youngest brother without actually touching him, ready in case he fainted. His amber gaze was fixated on the door, though. Dread was twisting inside of him, seeing the state Mikey seemed to be in, and the way Donatello paled even more.
Leonardo had a determined expression on his face as he waited for Mikey to open the door. He didn't like having his youngest mate going first. He should be the one taking the risk.
Just as he was about to suggest he'd open the door, Mikey's fingers curled around the handle and he pressed it down, taking a few shallow breaths before pulling it open.
A foul smell greeted them, along with more blood on the ground, puddling towards the right, where a bed-
"NO!"
Donnie's knees grew weak, the only thing keeping him semi-upright were Leo's arms around him. The room, the bed, Mikey...
The leader himself barely held himself together, feeling bile rise in his throat.
Raph's head was spinning as he staggered backwards, not able to pry his gaze away from the bed, trying to get his airways to work again.
Mikey stood there with wide eyes, frozen as he watched his own clone strapped to the bed. Dead.
He wasn't wearing his mask, he was completely bare. Most of his body was covered in dried blood. It had oozed from his wrists, rubbed so raw it cut the skin open. Some came from his mouth. Most of it, though, came from his lower region. There were several deep bites and bruises on his thighs. His tail was broken at the base, swollen and black, tucked away for easy access to the torn and bleeding hole.
Time seemed to be standing still for whole seconds, until Don couldn't take it anymore and twisted away to empty his stomach. It was his dream. He dreamed about brutally raping Mikey. And maybe... and maybe their clones did.
The sound of their genius brother retching seemed to break the spell on the rest of the brothers.
Leo fell to his knees beside Donnie, trying to comfort him by patting his shell, and trying even harder to keep his own food inside.
Raph blinked, mind rapidly yelling at him that this on the bed wasn't his Mikey. It was a clone. His Mikey was standing there, swaying and-
Automatically Raphael reached forward to catch his baby brother as his knees gave out completely. Not trusting his own legs at the moment, Raph sat on the ground with Mikey cradled in his lap. Shaking, he scooted backwards, away from the bed and towards Leo and Donnie.
The olive turtle leaned against Leo, face buried in his shoulder as he wept. Leonardo swallowed hard, keeping the bile inside as he tried to calm Donnie. When he saw Mikey unconscious his breath hitched, skin paling another shade. "Is he... okay...?"
"Yeah..." Raph exclaimed, grip on his brother tightening. "No... he just passed out..."
With a heavily shaking hand Donnie reached out, sight blurry with tears, and touched Mikey's hand. He let out a relieved sob when the slightly smaller hand squeezed his back slightly.
"Quite a pity, I have to admit." Three heads whipped around to the door, where Leo's clone stood with his arms crossed and a dirty smirk on his face. "But he wouldn't listen..."